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This time, she reached for his hand. Maybe she needed to focus on him for a change.
“I love you, Jason.”
It was the first time she’d said I love you out loud.
“Really?” he asked, glancing at her. “Wow. I’m so happy.”
“It’s fast,” she said.
“At least you waited a week,” he replied, smiling. “I told you after two days, didn’t I?”
“Two days and I love you is intense.”
Turning back to the window, she would try to pull it together. The only excuse she could give for her apathy was the aftermath of living with Herbert. Numbness was fleeting, and it had chosen Christmas Eve to show itself. She didn’t want her melancholy to hinder her relationship with Jason, and that meant hiding it, or at least ignoring it. She didn’t have to give in to every impulse she had.
The street in front of the Karases’ house was ice covered. “Let me come around so we can walk over this mess together,” Jason said, ever the gentleman. “Next time it snows, I’ll plow the street for them.”
Staying morose was impossible for Lily once she stepped over the threshold of Poppy Karas’s house. Friends and family abounded, and the noise level was deafening. John ran to greet them wearing an I’m not shouting! I’m Greek! sweatshirt.
“Everyone, here’s Jason and his new girlfriend, Lily!” he shouted, and Jason looked down at Lily and laughed.
Within seconds, they were surrounded by a crowd of well-wishers, the women hugging Lily, and the men shaking Jason’s hand. Jason’s sister Maria’s little children were in the mix, pressed up against Lily, the girls wanting to hold her hands.
“Let yiayia take Lily’s coat,” Jason said, using the Greek word for grandmother.
The chaos was the perfect cover-up for her misery. Led to an overstuffed couch near the Christmas tree by two little girls, Lily collapsed as they curled next to her, one of them handing her a book. She took it and smiled when she saw the cover—’Twas the Night Before Christmas.
“I love this book,” she said, glad for the rescue from adults asking questions.
Looking up, she caught Jason’s worried eye, but she smiled and winked. Small children had given her the perfect excuse not to interact.
“Lily, I’m sorry about this,” Maria said, rushing over to save her.
“I’m happy to read to them,” Lily said, deciding she wasn’t going to pull any punches with Jason’s family. “I have a little shyness thing, and they rescued me.”
“Are you sure?” Maria asked, aware of Lily’s shyness thing and concerned for her safety in their boisterous family.
“Absolutely,” she answered, winking again.
With a little girl on each side of her, holding on to her arms, Lily started to read. “On the night before Christmas, when all through the house…”
The evening turned out to be exactly what Lily needed. After a wonderful dinner, a family member sat at the piano and played the old favorite Christmas carols while everyone gathered around and sang along.
At eleven thirty, they left en masse to drive to Greektown for midnight mass. Jason held the door for Lily, who involuntarily grunted when she fell into the car.
“Are you okay?” he asked, getting in next to her.
“Yes! That was great,” she replied, laughing. “But I think once a year is all I could take of so many people.”
“So many people who all talk at the same time. My family was worried about you, but you seemed fine.”
“I really was. The kids helped me acclimate. Once their story was over, I could mingle. Your brother was attentive. Both your siblings remembered me from high school. That can be good or bad,” she said, chuckling.
“It’s all good. I’m so proud of you. I thought I was immune to the guy gets the beautiful girl syndrome, but I guess I’m not. Every male there came up and congratulated me.”
“Ew, that’s kind of creepy,” Lily said, flaring her nostrils.
“I guess I’ll never understand how you don’t know this about yourself. You’re gorgeous. Wherever we go together, heads turn. And I’ve never been with a woman as beautiful as you are.”
